The Internet has produced explosive growth in numerous markets including gaming, on-line chat, video conferencing, adult entertainment, medical treatments and information dissemination. The number of users has also exploded with the introduction of new and more realistic technologies. As wireless service providers are providing broadband access to cell phones, fixed line and cable service providers have been forced to offer broadband services or be left behind. The deployment of broadband services to homes and individuals has brought about the desire and ability to utilize the greatly increased bandwidth provided by broadband.
As applications on wireless communication networks move closer to the Internet, products are being developed that utilize both software and firmware (e.g. microcode) to take advantage of those capabilities. Computer system developers are working to more realistically simulate the virtual world found in computer applications so as to mimic the real world in a virtual reality. To transform this simulation and movement to a virtual reality, software, firmware and hardware devices work in tandem to simulate a person's senses and create a sensory illusion to match the interactions within the virtual world as created by a computer program.
Vision and sound have been readily incorporated by computer systems into the virtual reality. Further, development paths have included “virtual helmets” that provide a wearer with realistic visual simulations and incorporate headphones to provide both a sight and sound illustration of reality for the computer interface. More simplistic computer screens and speakers, however, do not deliver as effective an illusion of reality. While vision and hearing have been incorporated, the other three human senses—touch, smell, taste—have not been as easily simulated to create a virtual reality for the computer user.
Other developments have utilized existing platforms and technologies within 3-Dimensional (“3D”) virtual reality and linked those applications through the Internet with broadband services provided via wire-line or wireless communications networks to provide a physical sensation of touch matching a user's interactions and actions within an Internet or computer driven virtual work or in response to a computer program or device protocol. This allows the user to interact within a virtual, computer generated world by imparting feelings or sensations of impact and touch to whatever actions the user takes within the virtual world.
These developments to date, however, have only involved inputting touch or other senses into a virtual reality or having a computer outputting computer generated sensory feedback to a user.